"Listen to me, my dear children," she said, looking from Paul to
Natalie; "since you really feel thus, I have a proposition to make to
both of you. I find myself obliged to sell my pearl necklace and my
earrings. Yes, Paul, it is necessary; I do not choose to put a penny of
my fortune into an annuity; I know what I owe to you. Well, I admit
a weakness; to sell the 'Discreto' seems to me a disaster. To sell a
diamond which bears the name of Philip the Second and once adorned his
royal hand, an historic stone which the Duke of Alba touched for ten
years in the hilt of his sword--no, no, I cannot! Elie Magus estimates
my necklace and ear-rings at a hundred and some odd thousand francs
without the clasps. Will you exchange the other jewels I made over to
you for these? you will gain by the transaction, but what of that? I am
not selfish. Instead of those mere fancy jewels, Paul, your wife will
have fine diamonds which she can really enjoy. Isn't it better that I
should sell those ornaments which will surely go out of fashion, and
that you should keep in the family these priceless stones?"

"But, my dear mother, consider yourself," said Paul.

"I," replied Madame Evangelista, "I want such things no longer. Yes,
Paul, I am going to be your bailiff at Lanstrac. It would be folly in
me to go to Paris at the moment when I ought to be here to liquidate
my property and settle my affairs. I shall grow miserly for my
grandchildren."

"Dear mother," said Paul, much moved, "ought I to accept this exchange
without paying you the difference?"

"Good heavens! are you not, both of you, my dearest interests? Do
you suppose I shall not find happiness in thinking, as I sit in my
chimney-corner, 'Natalie is dazzling to-night at the Duchesse de Berry's
ball'? When she sees my diamond at her throat and my ear-rings in
her ears she will have one of those little enjoyments of vanity which
contribute so much to a woman's happiness and make her so gay and
fascinating. Nothing saddens a woman more than to have her vanity
repressed; I have never seen an ill-dressed woman who was amiable or
good-humored."

"Heavens! what was Mathias thinking about?" thought Paul. "Well, then,
mamma," he said, in a low voice, "I accept."

"But I am confounded!" said Natalie.

At this moment Solonet arrived to announce the good news that he had
found among the speculators of Bordeaux two contractors who were much
attracted by the house, the gardens of which coul